‘Shakira, Maluma – Clandestino’

Colombian singer and songwriter Shakira has released eleven studio albums, four live albums, two compilation albums, forty-nine singles (including nine as featured artist), and nine promotional singles. With sales of more than 70 million albums worldwide, she is the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time.

She is the only South American artist to peak at number one on the Australian Singles Chart, the UK Singles Chart, and the US Billboard Hot 100. Five of her singles, “Whenever, Wherever”, “La Tortura”, “Hips Don’t Lie”, “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” and “Loca”, have achieved sales in excess of five million units, becoming some of the best-selling singles worldwide.

Shakira’s musical career started at the age of 13 when she signed with Sony Music. Her first two studio albums, Magia and Peligro, were released in Colombia in 1991 and 1993 respectively. They performed poorly and had low sales, with the former selling fewer than 1000 copies. However, in 1995 Sony Music release as a single a song written by her, which was included in a compilation album of Colombian artists. “¿Dónde Estás Corazón?” was Shakira’s first successful single ever and meant her breakthrough in her native Colombia. Soon after, she found success across Latin America with her next album and major-label debut Pies Descalzos (1995) and its lead single “Estoy Aquí”. The album received a “Diamond Prism” certification award in Colombia, selling more than one million units in the country alone. Her success in Latin America was further consolidated by Dónde Están los Ladrones? (1998), which peaked atop the US Billboard Top Latin Albums chart for eleven weeks. The album also spawned the top-ten hit “Ojos Así”, which performed successfully in several European countries.

Motivated by Gloria Estefan, Shakira successfully crossed over into the English-language pop music scene with the release of the multi-platinum selling Laundry Service (2001) and its worldwide chart-toppers “Whenever, Wherever” and “Underneath Your Clothes”. The album sold three million copies in six months of its release in the United States. By 2002, Laundry Service had sold more than four million copies across Europe[16]and was declared the seventh best-selling album in the world in the same year by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). Out of a total of 60 songs, Shakira selected 20 songs and divided them into two albums, the Spanish Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 and the English Oral Fixation, Vol. 2; both were released in 2005. The former opened at number four on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 157,000 units—the highest debut of a full-length Spanish-language album in the country. It finished as the second best-selling Latin album of the decade and is the eighth best-selling Latin album in the United States, Its lead single “La Tortura” spent 25 non-consecutive weeks at number one on the US Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. “La Tortura” held the record for longest-running number one single on the chart by nearly a decade, until it was succeeded by Enrique Iglesias’s song “Bailando” in October 2014. Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 debuted within the top ten in most countries, although its sales began to decline in early 2006. Shakira’s label Epic then reissued the album, adding its second single “Hips Don’t Lie” to the track list; the song topped charts in 55 countries, including the UK Singles chart and the US Billboard Hot 100. One of the best-selling singles of the 21st century, “Hips Don’t Lie” successfully revitalised sales of its parent album.

Shakira’s eighth studio album, She Wolf (2009), deviated from her signature latin pop and pop rock styles, instead exploring the electropop genre. It performed well in Europe and Latin America; in Mexico it was certified platinum and gold within a week of its release. However, it did not replicate its success in the United States, where it peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200. Shakira was chosen to record the official song of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)”, which was released in May 2010. It topped numerous record charts and was a multi-platinum selling single in Italy, Germany, Mexico, Spain and Switzerland. It was similarly successful in the United States, where it sold more than one million copies and was certified platinum. In the same year, her ninth studio album Sale el Sol was released. Preceded by the top ten hit “Loca”, the bilingual album marked a musical return to Shakira’s “roots” and retained her success in Europe and Latin America, being certified diamond in both Colombia and France. Inspired by her relationship with Spanish footballer Gerard Piqué and the birth of their son Milan Piqué Mebarak, her tenth studio album Shakira was released in 2014. It became her second consecutive diamond album in Colombia and debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200—her highest peak in the country for an album. It featured the top-ten hits “Can’t Remember to Forget You” and “Dare (La La La)”. Her eleventh studio album, El Dorado, was released in May 2017 and became her sixth album to reach number one on the US Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. Its lead single “Chantaje” became an international success and received a 16-times platinum certification (for a Latin single) from the RIAA, becoming her highest-certified single in the US.

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